Run Over
by Hot n' Exotic
Summary: AU. Suze Simon is reluctant to go for a family holiday to Spain. What happens when she bumps into a certain Jesse de Silva over there, though? And what about the suspicious stories hanging around him? JS. Reviews very much appreciated!
1. Chapter 1

"Your daughter is a very bright student, Mrs

**A/N About time I started a new story! I thought I should take a break from **_**Love on the Rancho. **_**This idea just came to me since exams have ended and my dad has been to school to get my report card and summer hols are beginning. Bear with me and happy holidays, people!**

"Your daughter is a very bright student, Mrs. Ackerman. Considering the fact that she had to adjust to her new environment, her grades are very high and they show the potential…"

These Parent Teacher Conferences were such a bore. We had to sit there and look at Sister Ernestine's over-sweet smile and listen to her drone on a bunch of memorized stuff about how bright and diligent I was but how I should participate more in extra-curriculars etc.

I looked out of the French windows beside the desk. The fine white sand of the beautiful Carmel-by-the-sea beach sparkled temptingly under the hot June sun. What wouldn't a girl give to spend her summer vacations lazing out there under the swaying palm trees?

"…right, Suze?" said my mom, nudging me.

I broke out of my daze and turned back to what was going on in front of me. "Uh… yeah" I said, not really knowing what I was supposed to agree with.

My mom smiled at me and turned back to Sister Ernestine. "Thank you so much for helping Suze out, Sister."

I snorted. Catching mom's stern glance, I hastily turned it into a cough. With one last smile at the nun, we rose and headed out into the parking lot.

I jumped out of the car as soon as Andy parked the Land Rover in our driveway. "Later!" I shouted over my shoulder as I hurried up the porch steps and unlocked the front door.

Once I was in the safety of my room, I flopped down on my bed. _Whoo. _At last I had gotten away from my mom's customary post-PTC tirades.

I decided to meet Cee-Cee and Adam, my best friends (except for Gina back in New York), at the Coffee Clutch. Picking up my princess phone- courtesy of my mom- I dialled in Cee's number and waited.

"Hello?" said Cee's voice on the other end.

"Hey, it's me Suze. Wanna meet up at the Coffee Clutch in an hour?"

"Sure. I'll call Adam and tell him" she answered.

I rolled my eyes. Cee-Cee had been crushing on Adam for, like, _forever._ It was really cute seeing the way she tried to catch his attention in _that_ way. "U-huh. I'll see you then. Bye" I said hanging up.

I took a shower and quickly donned a pair of white short shorts and a comfortable blue cotton tank. Slipping on a pair of flip-flops and grabbing my purse, I headed downstairs.

"I'm going to the Coffee Clutch to meet Cee-Cee and Adam!" I yelled.

"Shut up. We don't care" I heard Brad say from the couch in front of the TV.

I rolled my eyes as I headed for the car. Some people were so _juvenile_.

When I reached the café Cee-Cee and Adam were already there, nursing a cup of coffee each.

"How'd it go?" asked Adam as I slid into the booth beside Cee Cee.

I shrugged. "Nothing special. Same old 'your-child-is-so-bright' stuff from the teachers and same old 'you-should-start-working-harder-to-get-into-a-good-college' lecture from my mom. How about you guys?"

Adam chuckled. "Ditto that. Of course" he added with a sly glance at Cee, "things were different for Ms. Four-point-zero here."

The grade bickering continued for a while until I decided to get up and order a hot chocolate (yeah I know, hot chocolate on a summer afternoon, very weird, but I can't help it) for myself.

As I was sipping the warm foamy drink, our conversation turned towards the holidays. Adam announced that he and his family were heading out to Thailand for the month of June.

"What about you Cee Cee?" I asked.

"I'll be staying here, working for the The Carmel Pine" she shrugged. "And you, Suze?"

I sighed. I had hoped to spend my first summer since I moved to California in Carmel. But last week I had found out that Andy and Mom had booked tickets for the six of us for Spain. Yes. Spain. I don't know what got into their heads, but there went my Carmel beach vacation dream out the window.

I told Cee Cee and Adam this. Their eyes widened, especially Cee's.

"Spain? Oh my god, the two of you are so lucky!" she said.

"I believe I am luckier than Suze" started Adam. Cee Cee and I rolled our eyes. The boastings had started.

"No really" he said. "I mean, c'mon, think of all the spicy exotic cuisine, and elephants…seriously, have you ever imagined elephants on the street? I'm tellin' you I am luckier"

"No! Think of the Spanish guys! Suze will so have those gorgeous Spanish guys swarming around her!" argued Cee Cee.

"I don't want to be swarmed with 'gorgeous Spanish guys'!" Adam quoted with his hands, his expression horrified.

The afternoon carried on in the same tone. I rolled my eyes and smiled at the two of them bickering like husband and wife. Sometimes, they reminded me of Ron and Hermione, making me Harry.

Sighing, I turned to look at the white breakers tumble onto the sand in the beach outside the café. Spain. What the hell would I do there for two whole months?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I know I said in the author's note for my other story that it would be a while before I update this story, but I couldn't help it

**A/N: I know I said in the author's note for my other story that it would be a while before I update this story, but I couldn't help it. I want to update both stories before I leave for vacations somewhere in nowhere. (Parents idea. Very slow internet there)**

**--**

"_Dear passengers, the plane has safely landed. Welcome to Valencia. The time is eleven thirty AM. The temperature outside is…"_

Well, here I was. In Spain at last. To tell the truth, I had sulked all through the flight. I knew it was crazy. I mean, I was going to _Spain_._ Europe_. And I was sulking.

But as I stepped down from the plane, I felt something jittery go down my spine. It was only momentary. I wasn't even sure if I felt it at all. But in that split second, I knew that I was going to have fun.

Little did I know what exactly I was in for.

--

The cab ride to the hotel was…whatever a ride is like if you are sandwiched between four hundred pounds of meat in the form of your two senile stepbrothers. It was a total pain in the neck. Literally.

We passed through several quaint little medieval-looking streets with neatly paved breezeways at the sides and shaded roadside cafes dotting them. I reached around Jake and rolled down the window, letting the warm afternoon breeze blow through my hair. _Hmmm._ The weather here definitely suited me.

After half an hour we reached the hotel. We checked in and then made our way to our rooms upstairs. We had three rooms altogether-one for Mom and Andy, one for Jake and Brad and one for David and me.

Entering my room, I threw myself face down onto one of the two single beds. It was the first time I was getting some rest since today morning. Or, should I say, _yesterday_ morning.

"Hey Suze?" I heard David's boyish voice say. "You mind if I use the bathroom first?"

"Hmph" came my muffled answer. Actually I _did_ mind, but I was too tired to argue. "Go ahead" I said, lifting my head from the pillows.

I was asleep before my head hit the bed again.

--

"OK, kids. You can spread out but try not to go too far. If you get lost, you have the hotel number. Or you could try to get a police to help you, ok?"

Jake, Brad, David and I rolled our eyes. Our parents were behaving like they were parenting seven-year-olds.

"Sure dad" replied Jake and we made our way around the market.

After I had woken up, we had had a late lunch and then we had decided to get out and start the vacation immediately. Why waste time?

We were in a big outdoor market located downtown, about fifteen minutes from the hotel by foot. It sold, like, everything. Fruits and vegetables, and several local dresses, snacks and woodwork.

I was standing in front of a stall selling traditional handicrafts, trying to decide on something to buy for Gina, Cee Cee and Adam. Glancing up, I noticed Mom and Andy standing at the stall next to mine. They seemed to be discussing something important. I frowned. It wasn't like Mom and Andy to discuss anything serious while on holiday. I turned back to the crafts in front of me, trying not to eavesdrop. I caught snitches of their conversation anyway.

"…think it's a good idea? So early?" said Andy.

"Yes Andy. We really should tell the children now…" replied Mom.

Oh. My. God. I turned my back on them so they would not recognize me if they looked in my direction. I had read enough chick lits and watched enough TV series to know what was coming when parents discussed 'telling the children' something. It could only mean two things-

One- they were getting divorced

Two-she was pregnant

Since I knew my mom and Andy to be completely in love (sometimes so much that it makes me nauseous), I could cross out the first reason. That left...

Someone cleared their throat behind me. My eyes widened. They wanted to tell me _here_? In the _market_ of all places?

"I know you're pregnant!" I blurted as I whirled around.

"Er…no. Not the last time I checked" said the guy standing in front of me, an eyebrow raised and an amused expression on his face.

I reddened. My god, this guy was hot. He had skin the color of caramel and wavy raven hair with a strand flopping into his eyes gorgeously. He had left the first three buttons of his button-down shirt unbuttoned, giving me a clear view of the beginning of what I knew was a set of impressive washboard abs. He was the like a Spanish Adonis.

And I had just told him he was pregnant.

Joy.

--

**A/N: Like it? I know its short but I liked it ending like this. **

**Three guesses who this 'Spanish Adonis' is. **

**Hehe. ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

I was beginning to regret it

**A/N: Basically this is a sucky chapter. I tried to make it as amusing as possible but I don't think its enough.**

**I enjoyed depicting Brad's dumbness though. :)**

--

I was beginning to regret it. Regret bringing, like, my whole summer wardrobe to Spain with me.

I sighed and picked up a spaghetti strap from my suitcase and started folding it before throwing it into the closet. It was the eighth one in five minutes.

And I was starting to get very _very_ annoyed with David's non-stop exclamations as he watched Discovery Channel. _He_ had already finished unpacking. Translation: He had zipped open his bag and dumped its contents (five T-shirts and two jeans) into the closet. And now he was making me listen to the latest developments in nano technology. Seriously, I should get paid for this room-sharing business.

As my hands did their work, I stared at the creamy wallpaper thinking about…well, nothing in particular. As I sat there gazing, though, a pair of liquid black eyes suddenly popped up on the blank surface. I blinked, startled.

Even though I had seen only the eyes, I had a pretty good idea who they belonged to. I reddened at the thought. Damn! What was wrong with me? I was sitting in my hotel room with my twelve-year-old stepbrother who was watching Discovery Channel and I suddenly think about a certain guy who I had only met that day and I blush just at his thought?

This was crazy. Suze Simon never blushed at a _thought_. I would have to do something about this.

Just then Brad stuck his head into the room. "Dave, Suze. Mom and Dad's room. At once" he said before retreating his head and slamming the door shut.

David and I rolled our eyes. Some people just never managed to master the tricky art of constructing a complete sentence.

Once we were all gathered in our parents' room, Andy began. "Kids, your Mom and I have something to tell you." He looked at Mom.

'_I think I know what this is going to be about. Oh please, please don't let it be what I think it is!' _I thought.

I glanced at my stepbrothers. They were all looking at Mom and Andy expectantly.

"I'm pregnant!" announced Mom happily.

_Shit._

I looked around to see the guys' reaction. I wasn't surprised.

David's eyebrows had disappeared into his bangs, Jake was just staring at our parents with his mouth slightly open and Brad looked like a pig had just farted right under his nose.

It would have been amusing really if I hadn't been too busy thinking about how disgusting the fact that my mom and Andy had done _IT_ was.

After a few moments of silence, Brad asked, "With Dad?"

--

I shifted in my bed. These sheets were too crisp for my liking. After tossing around for a few minutes to find a comfortable position, I lay there looking out of the open windows.

Again, those fetching dark eyes appeared in front of me. My thoughts turned to that afternoon.

_Flashback_

"_I know you're pregnant!" I blurted as I whirled around._

"_Er…no. Not the last time I checked" said the guy standing in front of me, an eyebrow raised and an amused expression on his face. _

_I reddened. My god, this guy was hot. He had skin the color of caramel and wavy raven hair with a strand flopping into his eyes gorgeously. He had left the first three buttons of his button-down shirt unbuttoned, giving me a clear view of the beginning of what I knew was a set of impressive washboard abs. He was the like a Spanish Adonis. _

"_I-I'm sorry" I muttered, trying my best to hide my red face from him. "I thought you were my mom."_

_The guy was now grinning widely. Did I mention that aside from being very eligible to be a Calvin Klein underwear model, he could also have starred in a Colgate toothpaste ad?_

_Feeling like there was nothing else to say, I turned back to head down the alley. I was stopped by his voice however. _

"_Hold on!" he said putting his hand on my shoulder. His touch made my skin tingle. I don't know if he felt it or not, but he suddenly got a strange look in his eyes and took his hand away. _

_After a moment, however, he was back to his grinning self. "What's your name?" he asked. His voice was deep but youthful and for some reason it reminded me of melted chocolate. _

_This time I raised my eyebrows. Gorgeous or not, this guy could be a psycho. I mean when do guys just go asking random girls for their names? _

_Anyway, who cares? Not like he could do anything with my name. "Suze Simon" I replied. Then deciding it would be impolite if I didn't return the question, I said "And you?"_

"_Suze?" he said, ignoring my question. "Short for something? Susan?"_

"_Susannah," I replied. "As in Oh Susannah Don't-"_

"_You Cry for Me" he finished, smiling. It was a genuine smile, this one. Not like his previous charming TV smiles. "I know that song. __Mi__ Madre used to sing it to me when I was a boy."_

_OK, now things were getting weird. I had just met this guy a minute ago and now I already knew what song his mom used to sing to him when he was a boy. And what's more, I didn't even know his name yet. _

"_I think you are ignoring something here," I said, slightly impatiently. _

_His brow furrowed in confusion. God, he looked so damn cute when he did that. Then realization dawned upon him. _

"_Oh, my name is Jesse. Jesse de Silva" he said. _

_I nodded, not knowing what else to say or to even continue the conversation. I shifted from one foot to another, waiting for him to say something. I wished he wouldn't say goodbye and just walk away. I was too interested in him already to just leave our…acquaintance hanging there. _

_Apparently he thought so too because the next thing he said was "Would you like to have a cup of coffee perhaps?"_

_I bit my lip, glancing over at where mom and Andy were standing. "I don't know" I started slowly. C'mon. A girl has to play hard to get sometimes. _

"_The café is right around the corner. Please? I'm going to be lonely this evening" he said._

_My eyes widened. Did he think…?_

_Apparently realizing what he had said Jesse quickly apologized. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" He gestured his hands helplessly. _

_My lips quirked into a smirk as I watched him, not helping him on. He noticed my smirk. _

"_You get it" he finished weakly. _

"_U –huh. You know, if we stand here forever, sooner or later my parents will decide its time to get back to the hotel" I said, smiling. _

_Jesse's grin returned. "After you," he said, holding his arm out. _

_--_

"_So…you come from the States?" Jesse asked as we sat down at a table._

"_U-huh" I replied. "Why you've been there before?"_

"_Yeah I lived there for a while" he said, picking up a menu. "At least long enough to learn that Greenwich Village is not pronounced Green-witch Village. I learnt the hard way" he added._

_I laughed. Then looking down at the menu, I frowned. It was a Spanish café by heart, this one. Even the menu was fully in Spanish. _

"_Need help?" asked Jesse, his dark eyes twinkling. _

"_Very much, thank you. Just order the sugary-est thing they offer. I'm craving for sugar" I replied._

_Jesse looked at me strangely. What was with him and his strange looks? It was like he was trying to search my whole soul through my eyes. Kind of freaky actually. _

_Feeling self conscious, I lowered my head. "Umm…"I started. _

_Recovering himself, Jesse placed the orders than turned back to look at me. "Do you always eat such…sugary foods when you go out?" he asked me. _

_I turned red (being with Jesse had a tendency of making me do that). Then I thought 'What's there to be embarrassed about? I'm not Kelly Prescott for goodness sake! And it's not like I'm fat either.'_

_I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "Yeah. If you're planning on eating something, might as well have fun eating it."_

_A small smile began to appear on Jesse's face._

"_And anyway, you can always run a few extra errands for your mom to loose all the calories you've gained" I added. _

_Now, he was laughing. _

_Ok, I was missing something here. "Excuse me? Am I missing something?" I asked._

"_Nothing. Here's the food. Dig in." replied Jesse, his eyes filled with mirth._

_--_

_After our short snack, Jesse walked me back to the market. My parents would be worrying by now. _

_When we were about to turn the corner, he stopped me by taking hold of my wrist. My skin tingled again. It was amazing how his slightest touch left goosebumps all over my skin. All too soon however, he let go of my hand._

"_Yeah?" I asked. _

_He seemed to be confused about something. After mulling it over, he said to me "Can we meet again, querida?"_

_I looked up at him curiously. "What was that you call me? Not something bad I hope" I said playfully. _

_He, however, had turned red. He looked confused and embarrassed at the same time. Quiet frankly, the poor guy looked lost. _

"_Hey" I said softly. "You ok?"_

_He broke out of his trance. "Yeah, yeah, I'm ok. So what about meeting again?"_

_I raised an eyebrow and smiled playfully up at him. "Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. de Silva?"_

_Jesse was back to his old self. He smiled his mega-watt smile. "I guess you could call it that" he replied as playfully as me. _

_I laughed. "Where are we going?"_

_He smiled mysteriously. "You'll see. I'll call you up and tell you when, ok?"_

"_Sure" I called, waving at him as I started to head back to the market. _

"_Goodbye Susannah" he called back._

_End of Flashback_

_--_

As I lay in bed, watching the stars shimmer in the night sky, I realized that that was the first time he had uttered my name.

And the sound of it sent trills of electricity down my body.

--

**A/N: There! Next chapter will be their date. We'll get to know more about Jesse then. **

**Now I have a question for you guys: **

**How would you like Suze to learn of Jesse's…reputation in the place? Like, you know, rumors and gossip about him. Gossip magazine? New local friend? I'm having a hard time deciding. **

**Also suggestions for where Jesse will take Suze out are welcome!**

**Plus, you may have realized that many of Jesse's actions in this chapter have remained unexplained. ****Some, you can figure out yourself; others will be explained in later chapters. **


	4. Chapter 4

Whew

**A/N: This chapter gave me quite a bit of trouble but I enjoyed writing it anyway. Hope you enjoy reading it. :)**

**--**

_Whew. _

It had been a tiring day. We had visited the City of Arts and Sciences, the Cathedral of Valencia and various other cultural sites for which the city was famous.

And now it was starting to take a toll on me. Let me tell you, sight-seeing with a two-and-a-half month pregnant woman and a stepbrother who's so dumb that he _has_ to have some kind of brain disorder, is _not_ what you'll want to go through twice. Seriously. When people back home ask what I did over the summer I would have said "Oh, I was employed as my pregnant mother's walking, talking pack of Kleenex." Minus the salary, of course.

So it was no wonder that as soon as we reached the hotel in the evening, I headed straight for the bathroom. David would have to wait. I was going to have my much needed hot bath first. Thank god Andy had the sense to book a hotel with Jacuzzis in it.

As I let myself submerge in the soothing hot water, I closed my eyes and thought about – who else? – Jesse. It had been two days since I had met him. And he still hadn't called. I always asked the receptionist if anyone had left a message for me after coming back from our excursions, but none had come so far.

'_Oh well_' I thought. '_Looks like I'll just have to be patient._'

I didn't have to wait for long. I had just stepped out of the tub and was drying myself off when David knocked on the bathroom door.

"Suze? There's someone on the phone for you," came his confused voice. Well, of course he was confused. In all the excitement with Mom's pregnancy, I had forgotten to mention to my family that I had made a new _friend_.

My heart skipped. _Yippee!_ He had called. Took him long enough.

After hurriedly donning one of the hotel's snow white bathrobes, I walked into the room. David gave me a questioning look but nevertheless, he stepped out of the room. I am proud to say that at least one of my stepbrothers has brushed up on his manners.

I picked up the phone and said, "Hello?"

"Susannah," came Jesse's deep voice. Not to seem boastful, but I thought he sounded as happy as I felt.

Not wanting to waste time on exchanging sentiments, I dived straight in. "So you decided to call at last, did you?"

I heard him sigh guiltily on the other end. "I'm sorry, querida. I was busy with family matters."

I looked down at the phone set curiously, as if I might see him through it. He had called me that Spanish thing again. I was _dying_ to know what it meant.

"Anyway, Susannah, are you free tonight?" Jesse asked.

_Tonight?_ I looked at the clock hanging above the TV. It was already seven o' clock. What the hell would he want tonight?

"Ummm… yeah, I'm free. Why?" I replied.

"Have you forgotten that we're going out? Meet me at nine in your lobby, ok?"

"_Nine?_ Are your crazy?" I said incredulously.

Jesse's chuckle reached my ears. "No, querida, I assure you I am perfectly sane. Just meet me at nine, ok?"

Dumbly, I nodded. Then, realizing he couldn't see me, I weakly said "Yeah, I'll meet you at…nine."

I could almost see his smile from the other end. "Well, I'll see you then, Susannah. Oh, and its nothing formal, ok?" he said before cutting off the line.

Placing the handset back in its cradle, I slowly processed what he had said. Nine o' clock. That left me with only two hours to get ready. One, if I counted dinner downstairs with my family.

Damn! And here I was, hoping to have him see me this time not in my old leather jacket – reminiscent of my old 'troubled teen' days – and ratty, faded jeans. I would have to work fast.

After dinner – which I finished even before Brad – I rushed up to my room. Hmm. What to wear. Nothing formal, he had said. Yeah well, that didn't stop me from trying to look good.

After a few minutes of contemplation, I decided to go for the sleek, chic look. I pulled out a cute white tank with a jewelled Cleopatra neckline and paired it with dark blue skinny jeans. Throw in a pair of black knee-length boots and the look was complete.

After half an hour, as I was straightening my hair in front of the bathroom mirror, I heard David enter the room. He came and stood at the bathroom doorway, his arms folded across his skinny chest.

"Where are you going, Suze?" he asked abruptly.

I sighed. I should've known I couldn't keep it a secret from him. "I-I'm meeting a new friend" I half-lied.

David raised his eyebrows. "It's a guy isn't it?"

Oh well, the cat was out of the bag. I might as well tell him the whole truth. "Yeah, David. It's a guy." I smiled at him sheepishly. "I guess I should've told you before."

The little guy looked worried. "But Suze, what if he's a bad guy? Are you sure he won't harm you? Would you like me to come down with you and see him for you?" he asked anxiously.

I was touched. He really did care for me. And I was sure he knew that he was no match for whatever guy I was going out with, but still he had offered his protection. It was times like this that made me actually think of him as my own little brother.

I smiled fondly at him. "Its ok, David. He's not a bad guy. I'll be perfectly fine."

"How do you know? You haven't known him for long" replied David.

Hmm. How _did_ I know? Jesse could be a serial killer waiting to chop me into a million pieces for all I knew. But I knew from something in his eyes, that he would keep me safe. Yeah. I trusted him.

But I very well couldn't give my stepbrother all this softy stuff. So instead I said, "He's meeting me in the lobby. In front of everyone. Don't you think if he wanted to do something to me, he'd have met me in secret?"

This struck a chord in David's logical mind. He sighed. "Yeah…I guess. So…I'm guessing you don't want everyone else to know? Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

I felt a huge rush of affection for the dorky-looking redhead standing in front of me. I reached out and took hold of his head between my hands and placed a huge kiss on his forehead. When I drew back, the poor kid was beet red.

I beamed at him. "You're the greatest, Doc!" I said, using my personal nickname for him.

I quickly finished straightening my hair and added some finishing touches. Then, making sure the rest of my family was safely in bed, I hurried down to the lobby.

Jesse was waiting there, leaning against a pillar and looking coolly handsome. Wearing a white wife beater with a black unbuttoned half-sleeved button down on top and his hair messily gorgeous, he had the whole alluring I-don't-care-about-a-thing look down pat. Ok, that was confusing. In short, Jesse looked _hot_.

"Waiting for someone?" I asked, walking up behind him.

He looked around and grinned. "Not anymore," he said.

Then, he surprised me by putting his arm around my waist and starting to walk out of the hotel. I could just see the girl at the front desk turning green with jealousy.

"Ummm… Jesse? Where are we going so late?" I asked, looking up at him. I really was confused. All the dates I had gone to had started at around six or seven. Never _nine_.

Jesse smiled secretively. "You'll know soon."

I was about to protest when I caught sight of the gleaming sports motorcycle he had led me to. And now he was taking the keys out of his pocket and inserting it into the keyhole of the bike.

I felt my jaw drop. "Jesse? Where the hell did you get _that_?"

He looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "I sneaked it out of my neighbor's garage" he replied casually.

My eyes widened. "Wha--" I caught the way he was pursing his lips to keep himself from bursting out laughing.

"Jesse! That wasn't funny!" I said, smacking him on the shoulder.

He burst out laughing. It seemed as if he would never stop. I pouted and made to move away from him but he caught hold of my wrist.

"Come on, Susannah," he said in a silky persuasive voice. I just couldn't resist giving in to that voice. Well, who could?

I rolled my eyes and moved towards the bike. "The names Suze" I grumbled at a last attempt to remain annoyed.

"I like Susannah" he said simply, climbing onto the bike and patting the seat behind him. I got on behind him and he turned his head to look at me with a challenging smile.

"Hold on."

The next second we were zooming down the honeycombed Valencian streets. My untied hair was flying as we raced on and the vibrant Valencian nightlife was just a blur of colors. I held on to Jesse's waist and started laughing. This was the first time I was having so much excitement in a long time.

Before I knew it, we had arrived in front of a building at the beach. Reluctantly, I let go of Jesse's waist and climbed down. It took me a second to realize, from the sounds of music coming from inside the building, that it was a nightclub.

A _seaside_ nightclub too. Talk about originality. This guy was a master at it. Or maybe it was just me and my limited knowledge of dating.

Jesse came up beside me with a smile on his face.

"Uh, Jesse, are you sure that I'm legal here? I am only sixteen after all" I said nervously.

He chuckled. "Don't worry querida. I made sure to choose a totally PG-13 rated club" he said with a twinkle in his eye.

He slipped his large hands into my small ones and, and giving it a reassuring squeeze, he led me into the nightclub.

The club was pumped full of yellow and red lights and boldly colored murals. It was playing salsa music at the moment. And the people…don't even get me started on the people. It was the most diverse mix of people I had ever seen. From scantily dressed college girls to grey haired old men in Walmart-y sweaters, this club had it all. I realized why Jesse had chosen this as the place to hold our date. There was this delicious air of unpretentiousness in it that matched his (and my) personality perfectly.

"You dance?" I shouted over the music to Jesse.

"Of course. Don't you?" he asked curiously.

I reddened. Again.

"No. I'm not much of a dancer" I muttered.

"Come on. I'll teach you" said Jesse, tugging me towards the dance floor. He showed me some of the salsa steps and I shyly followed. Sometimes, I would do such weird moves that he couldn't help but burst into laughter. And this time, I gave a grudging smile, knowing how bad I must look.

Slowly, but surely, I got into the flow of the music and the both of us were soon smoothly moving through the steps.

Jesse twirled me around and then held me close to his chest. I breathed in the smell of his cologne and sighed contentedly. The feeling of Jesse's muscular arms trapping me in his embrace gave me a feeling of security and tranquil that I had never felt in the arms of anyone else. It was a foreign feeling to me, but not unwelcome.

After dancing for a while, my feet began to hurt so I started to make my way to one of the tables around the dance floor. Jesse stopped me.

"This way," he whispered, leaning down close to my ear.

He put his hand on the small of my back and began to stir me away from the dance floor. He led me up a flight of stairs and soon we were in a terrace looking out onto the sea.

"Wow," I breathed, walking to the railing and taking in the view.

It was a rare sight, a Valencian beach completely deserted. There was only the water, the sand and the palms. The only sounds were that of the waves washing rhythmically onto the beach and the distant sounds of the music from downstairs.

Jesse came and stood behind me. He encircled my waist with his arms and pulled me into his chest.

"Its one of my favourite places in the world" he said quietly.

I twisted my head to look at his face. He was gazing down at the sea affectionately and with a look of total peace. It was a new side of Jesse that I was seeing. The sensitive, caring, quiet side of him.

He eyes turned from the water and locked themselves on me. "It's the first time I've brought someone here with me" he continued just as quietly as before.

I stared up at him just as intensely as he was staring at me. It was like we were suddenly isolated in a bubble of our own. A highly electrically charged bubble.

His eyes moved to my lips and, slowly, he leaned down and caught them in a soft kiss. Our lips were like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fitted together perfectly.

I turned around in his embrace to face him and brought my hands up to his face, cupping it. I could feel the beginnings of a stubble under my hands. He tightened his grip around my waist, pressing me closer to him.

Without breaking contact, Jesse led the both of us to one of the leather stretchers. We didn't even notice the disapproving looks that the middle-aged couple in the corner were giving us.

Jesse's kiss was…so different to the ones that I had had before. It was not a greedy, lustful kiss. Instead, we poured out something to the each other in this kiss. Something like…love. I knew we were going too fast – c'mon it was our first date! – but… there was just this feeling in me that pushed me on and told me it was going to be ok.

I don't know how long we lay on the stretcher, kissing. Soon afterwards, I pulled out of our lip-lock and settled my head on his chest. He put his arm around me and quietly, we started talking of our lives and learning about each other.

He was in his second year in university and was studying business. His father, he said, was a businessman. Jesse had five younger sisters all of whom lived with his parents while he lived in an apartment of his own.

Jesse then proceeded to tell me about his fight with his aunt's dog when he was ten, earning him the little white scar in his right eyebrow.

Half the night passed on with us exchanging anecdotes and laughing and joking (and kissing).

"Did I tell you how beautiful you're looking tonight, querida?" said Jesse as he twisted a strand of my hair around his finger.

I giggled. "I think you forgot to mention it. But I'll let it slide this time. Next time though…" My voice trailed of playfully.

Jesse's chuckle rumbled through my body.

"Jesse?" I asked, playing with the buttons of his button down.

"Yes, querida?" came his reply.

"You never _did_ tell me where you got that bike, you know."

--


	5. Chapter 5

I was ecstatic

**A/N: I am so glad to be back! I had a good vacation but the problem was the lack of Internet. No updates for a month! I could just see my stories gathering dust in the fourth or fifth pages of the Mediator archive. :( **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter which I typed in the train home. Twenty eight hours on a moving train is no joke, let me tell you. OK, I'll stop babbling now. Enjoy!**

--

I made a new friend.

My best friend Gina would have thrown a fit if she ever heard me say that. Especially in a place where I had been for only six days.

Yeah, I'm not exactly a social butterfly, in case you haven't figured it out already. Its one of the reasons my popular, dumb jock stepbrother, Brad, hates me.

Anyway, so I made a new friend. Heiress to the hotel we were staying in, Vivienne Fernandez was one of those girls who had it all. She had the silkiest strawberry-blonde hair, flawless crème brulee skin and a dad with a loaded bank account. It was a wonder, really, how she hadn't turned out to be a spoiled Paris Hilton clone. We had bumped into each other at breakfast the day after my date with Jesse. Being the only sixteen year old girls in the hotel, we had clicked at once.

What with the ethereal date with Jesse and now a new exciting friend, my vacation was turning out to be much _much_ more than I could ever have hoped for. I was in Spanish paradise.

Now Vivienne and I were sitting on my hotel bed, licking the last remnants of Ferrero Rocher chocolate off our fingers as we watched an episode of Friends.

"Jennifer Aniston is strangely lucky she got such a hot young assistant. Normally forty-year-old divorcees aren't that lucky," I commented.

Vivienne giggled. "She isn't a forty-year-old divorcee in the serial" she said in her strong Spanish accent, rolling her eyes.

After a short silence during which we watched Jennifer Aniston make out with her new assistant, Vivienne spoke, "Speaking of hot young guys, what were you doing with Hector de Silva at nine o'clock the other night?" She looked over at me keenly.

I started as several golden wrappers fell off my lap. "You know him?"

She rolled her eyes. "Me and about three fourths of the Spanish population," she replied.

"His name is Jesse," I said confusedly.

Vivienne raised her eyebrows. "His real name is Hector. But I think I read somewhere that his pet name given by his mother is Jesse. He told you to call him Jesse?"

"Yeah. How do you know him?" I replied quietly.

Vivienne laughed disbelievingly. "His father owns, like, half of all the industries in the country put together. OK, that was an exaggeration but…you get it. And Hector…well a good example would be Prince William. Just like all those English girls run after the prince, Spanish girls run after Hector. He's one of the richest young men in the country. Not to mention the handsomest," she said.

With every sentence my friend uttered, my high spirits were falling lower and lower. I guess everything, even people's hearts, follow the universal rule: What goes up has to come down.

My face must have shown my distress because the next thing she said was, "Suze, are you OK?"

I gulped. "What else do you know?"

She hesitated. "Are…are you sure you want to hear it?"

I glanced at her sharply. "Meaning there _is_ something else?"

Vivienne was taking care to look at everything in the room except for my face. "You know Suze, you didn't answer the original question. What were you doing with him at nine o' clock that night?"

I sighed. "I—I was going on a date with him" I replied, my gaze on the tan carpet.

Damn! I knew we were taking things too fast. What was I thinking in the first place, going out with a guy I had spoken to only once and that also only for thirty measly minutes? In a country where I was a total stranger?

I lifted my gaze to look at Vivienne. "Tell me what else you know."

She bit her perfectly glossed lip. "Umm…well..it's just that Hector…he has a tendency of appearing in the Spanish gossip magazines quite often," she said nervously.

I raised my eyebrows. How like me to be dating a celebrity—albeit it was only one date—and not having the slightest clue as to his identity.

"So?" I asked Vivienne. "I mean, he's…uh…popular around here so that's not a surprise, is it?"

"I didn't tell you what he appears in there for," she replied.

In answer to my questioning look, she blurted out, "Jesse has a reputation of…well _playing_ _around_. With girls."

I felt a stinging sensation in my eyes. Lies. They had all been lies. Well in a way it was true, I mean his dad _is_ a businessman, but it was the truth told in a twisted way. And by omitting important details. And I bet I was not the first girl he had taken to that terrace above the club.

Vivienne was speaking again. I turned my slightly watery gaze on her.

"But Suze," she was saying, "it can't matter all that much to you, can it? I mean aren't you just going out with him for fun? Just a—what do you call it? Oh—a fling. Right? I mean, you're leaving after two months after all."

I blinked. She was right. I was only here for a holiday. Any relationship formed between Jesse and I could not possibly have a future. Why was I getting so worked up about this?

_Because he's the only guy who has ever made you feel totally complete. And cared for and protected. _

I made up my mind. I didn't care if I was only here on a holiday. I had met a fantastic guy with who I had some serious chemistry going on and I really wanted to enter into a relationship with. And so I would do just that.

If he could agree to play clean, of course.

I stood up. Vivienne looked at me with her expressive grey-green eyes.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have a call to make."

--

"Hello?" came Jesse's deep voice from the other end.

His voice sounded so innocent yet tantalizing that suddenly my apparently easy task seemed really hard.

I licked my dry lips and started, "Hey Jesse. It's me, Suze."

"Susannah! I was just about to call you," he said.

_He sounds so happy. _

Wrapping the telephone cord around and around my hand (apparently the hotel didn't want to waste money on cordless phones), I squeaked, "Yeah? Oh…umm…ok."

"Susannah? You don't sound well. Are you OK?" he said sounding genuinely concerned and unconsciously making my task even harder.

Gathering all my strength I replied, "I was until I had a little tête-à-tête with a friend. When were you planning on telling me that your dad is, like, one of the biggest industrialists in Spain? And your family has a celebrity status here?"

The other end was quiet. It was the longest silence I had ever experienced. I waited with bated breath.

"So you figured it out, did you?" he said quietly at last.

There was something like defeat spelt out in his voice. For a moment all I wanted to do was to wrap my arms around his neck and give him a long comforting hug.

Coming back to my senses and remembering what I had called him for, I said, "Yeah. Yeah, I did. How the hell did you think you could keep something like that a secret? I mean, someone was bound to recognize you and inform me about it."

He sighed. "Yes, I can see that I was a fool to think I could keep that a secret, Susannah," he said tiredly. I could just imagine him running his hand through his thick black hair.

Tears stung my eyes again. "But why did you want to keep it a secret in the first place? You didn't think you could trust me? Or do you just _like _lying to the girls you date, huh?"

I was close to shouting by now. I was hurt. I had thought that what Jesse and I had was special. But as it turned out, all he thought I was worthy of were lies.

"Susannah! Please listen to me," he pleaded. "No, I didn't like lying to you but it was essential that I do it. In fact, it pained me like it never pained me before to lie to you."

"Oh? Then why lie?"

"I—Look, Susannah, I didn't want you to know who I am because I wanted a real relationship, see?" he said.

My anger turned into confusion. "What? We couldn't have a real relationship if I knew you were, like, the most eligible bachelor in the country?"

I heard him sigh, frustrated. "That's the thing isn't it, Susannah? If you knew about my wealth and position then—who knows?—maybe you would have gone out with me just for the fame and money." He laughed bitterly. "Believe me, I've had plenty of girls chasing me for that. But this time I wanted you to like me for me. For who I am. Do you understand, querida?"

_No, Jesse. Not everything anyway. _

I felt a light, happy feeling enter me, knowing that Jesse wanted to have a real relationship with me. But our troubles were far from over.

I squeezed my eyes shut, letting a single pearly tear escape and slide down my cheek.

"And what about your repeated appearances in the gossip magazines?"

"I—what?" he asked.

_Oh, God. How do I put this?_

Taking a deep breathe, I said, "You—you're frequently seen with girls, I hear. _Different_ girls."

"Susannah." His tone was serious. Dead serious.

"Yeah?" I said coldly.

"Susannah, you have to understand that being…well _famous_ means having rumors about you being spread about. Untrue rumors."

He did have a point. My anger began to fade.

"Susannah?" he said after my long silence.

I sighed. "Yeah?"

"So am I forgiven?"

The corners of my mouth turned slightly up. "I guess," I replied.

"So…are we…you know…an item?" he asked. I had never heard him so nervous before (not that I had known him for a long time, but whatever).

"Are you going to play it clean?" I asked, half teasingly.

After a beat he answered, "I'm going to play it clean."

My heart swelled so much that I thought it would burst out of my chest. I was so happy that I didn't even notice his slight delay in answering the question.

Trying to keep from shouting for joy, I replied, "Well, I guess we're an item then."

_From the most delicious menu. _

_--_

**A/N: You may commence reviewing. :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is what I call the 'Deep Breath before the Plunge'. Hope you enjoy it – its going to be the last moments of peace for a long time. **

--

"This is the life," I said lazily, reaching out for my glass of lemonade.

"Mmhm," agreed Vivienne beside me.

We were all sprawled out on the golden sands of one of Valencia's numerous beaches. _We_ meaning everyone – my whole family and Vivienne. My mom had thought that she was too tired for sight-seeing today, thus the brilliant idea of lounging the whole day in the beautiful beach.

The sun was generously providing us with the perfect tanning conditions and the sparkling turquoise waters of the Mediterranean didn't hurt to look at either.

I was in my new black Versace bikini - and I looked good, if I do say so myself. What? A girl needs an occasional ego boost. And I should look good too, considering all the trouble those two pieces of clothe cost me. Aside from the fact that it cost me a month's allowance, I had to get a full body wax for it. And let me tell you – the whole waxing thing? Yeah, it hurts. A lot.

So here I was in the classic Mediterranean shoreline, Susannah Simon, actress, supermodel…

Ha.

"So, Suze, how are things between you and de Silva?" said Vivienne suddenly, breaking me out of my lazy daydreams.

"What? Oh," I said distractedly. A smile came to my face as I thought about Jesse. Thinking about him usually made me do that. "Things are going fantastic between Jesse and me," I said.

And it was. Since our fight (and reconciliation) over the phone two weeks ago, Jesse and I had been having the time of our lives. Or _my_ life at least.

I had finally managed to introduce him to my family. Mom had been ballistic over the fact that I had been dating him without their knowledge (Hormones. God, I couldn't wait for that baby to be born) but Jesse's perfect manners (and temperature-raising hotness) soon calmed her down.

And to my complete surprise, Jake had to pick this time to start with the protective elder brother crap. Yeah. Jake. My stepbrother. The one who sleepwalks through life.

Actually, the only dark cloud in this whole thing was Vivienne. She had defiantly stood by her opinion of Jesse. Meaning, a playboy. I had assured her several times that Jesse was nothing of the sort but she was determined that he was. I seem to make hopelessly defiant friends, don't I? First Gina, then CeeCee, now Vivienne.

Anyway, that was why Vivienne rolled her eyes when I answered her question. "I'm telling you, Suze," she started. "You're going to regret it. You should just lea—hey! Isn't that him coming towards us?"

I followed her gaze and, sure enough, there was Jesse jogging towards us. Coming with him was a young girl, clad in a yellow bikini, who looked about Vivienne's and my age.

As they drew nearer, Jesse, with his typical mega-watt grin, said, "Susannah! I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"Yeah…change of plans and all," I smiled, shrugging. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm here with my friends and two of my sisters. This," he said, pointing towards the girl next to him, "is Josefina. Josefina, this is Susannah."

Josefina gave me a friendly smile. She really was very pretty, though she hadn't inherited all the good looks that Jesse had. It was more her pleasant open nature which made her look beautiful.

"You don't know how happy I am to meet you at last, Susannah. Since he met you, my brother's been all Susannah this and Susannah that," said Josefina with a sly glance at Jesse.

I blushed and Jesse turned slightly redder too.

"Oh. Umm...please call me Suze, Josefina," I said. I noticed her look confusedly at Jesse and added, "Though, for reasons unknown, you brother seems to have some kind of aversion to my nickname."

"Well, why waste such a beautiful name?" Jesse said, plopping down on the sand next to me. "I think it suits you much better than _Suze_." He wrinkled his nose as he spoke my nickname.

"Hey!" I cried mock indignantly, punching his rock-hard (bare) stomach lightly. "Have some respect!"

Vivienne and Josefina laughed. I introduced Jesse and his sister to my friend. Josefina and Vivienne immediately started chattering in Spanish and I turned to Jesse.

He wrapped a powerful arm around my waist and made to kiss me when I moved away, looking around. He looked confused.

"Be careful. My family is here too today," I warned him.

"Where?" he asked, looking around.

"Mom and Andy are in the shade back there, Brad and Jake are surfing, and David's looking for some unique species of Mediterranean starfish apparently," I finished, rolling my eyes.

Jesse laughed. God, I love his laugh. It's just so open and pleasant and…and…oh whatever.

"Nice little brother you have there," he chuckled.

I smiled. "Tell me about it. He's a cute little guy though."

"It's always like that," said Jesse, nodding thoughtfully. "No matter how strange any member of you family is, you grow to love them for who they are."

I considered this. "You know what? You're right," I said, realization dawning upon me. "I mean, David may be all weird and dorky and stuff and Jake's only talent maybe sleeping and Brad may be a total bozo, but…since the time my mom married their dad I've grown this…well, sisterly affection for them. You know?"

Jesse smiled. "Yeah, I know," he said, tucking a stray curl behind my ear. He continued gazing at me thoughtfully.

I waved a hand in front of his face. "Yoo-hoo! Earth to Jesse," I said playfully.

He blinked. "You know, querida," he started softly. "You truly _are_ special. I've never met a girl so…_real_ before."

I laughed slightly self-consciously. "What do you mean? Every girl around you is real. Definitely no fairies around," I joked.

But Jesse only shook his head. "You amaze me, querida," he whispered simply and leaned down and caught my soft lips in his firm ones.

And off I was, shipped to heaven.

Forgetting everything and everyone around us, we kissed passionately. Jesse's kisses…they made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered as long as I was in his arms. And like I was the only thing in _his_ world.

His calloused hand was roaming freely on the soft skin of my bare back, making bonfires erupt in every cell of my skin there. I ran my fingers down the Michelangelo-sculpted planes of his tan chest, lightly grazing my nails on his skin and eliciting a soft moan from him.

Before things could get too heated, however, someone cleared their throat loudly beside us.

Distractedly, Jesse and I broke apart, looking for the source of the interruption. Seeing Vivienne and Josefina looking at us pointedly with identical smirks on their faces, I turned red. Jesse just looked slightly uncomfortable at first and then went back to his normal confident self.

"What?" Jesse asked his sister rudely, trying to get rid of the embarrassing situation. All I could think was that he was lucky it was his little sister who caught him sucking face. I grimaced at the thought of what would have happened had Jake or Brad caught us.

"Jesse, I'm going with Javier, ok? He'll drop me off at home so you don't have to worry, ok?" Josefina said, as we for the first time noticed the clean-cut guy standing next to her.

That got Jesse up pretty fast. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Wasn't it Carlos last week?"

Josefina blushed hard and got an angry look on her face. "Jesse!" she hissed trying to look normal in front of her boyfriend.

They didn't even switch back to Spanish, they just continued in English, completely ignorant of the rest of us standing there.

"Why do you always keep changing boyfriends? No, you are NOT going with _Javier_. You will go home with _me_," said Jesse, just as angry as his sister.

Josefina gasped in outrage. "Hypocrite! Why, what about when _you_ go around with—"

"Josefina!" Jesse cut her off in a dangerously low voice.

The rest of their angry conversation, I tuned out. I was only thinking about one thing: Why had Josefina called Jesse a hypocrite? And what about when he went around with who?

I was brought back to reality when I heard Josefina burst into angry tears and run away. Her boyfriend made to run after her, but one look at Jesse's livid face made him turn back and head the other way.

Vivienne and I glanced at each other, conveying a message to each other. She nodded slightly and quietly got up and walked away. It seemed nobody wanted to deal with Jesse's temper.

Jesse turned back to me and sighed, running his hand to his hair. "I'm sorry for that, Susannah," he said, avoiding my gaze. "I—I tend to get a little protective when it comes to my sisters."

I nodded, understandingly. "She'll get over it. Don't worry," I said, offering him a half-smile.

Sighing, he came towards me and embraced me, hiding his face in my hair. I hugged him back because, seriously, he looked like he needed some comforting.

"Sometimes I think that one day they'll all stop talking to me because all I do is cause havoc in their love lives," he mumbled into my hair.

I tightened my arms around his neck. "They'll never do that. They love you too much. Remember the sibling love we were talking about earlier? They love for who you are and they'll never hate you for it," I whispered consolingly to him.

Jesse drew back and looked down at me with a small smile. "You're an angel, querida," he said sincerely.

"And here I was, thinking that at least _someone_ was thinking of me as a _real_ girl for once," I joked, trying to make the situation lighter.

He laughed but the laughter didn't reach his eyes. I could see he was really upset about his fight with his sister.

He sighed. "I've got to go now, querida. Please don't mind if I don't meet your parents today. I don't really feel like meeting anyone."

I nodded understandingly. "Sure. I'll see you later. Bye."

With one last peck on my lips, he jogged off in the direction from where he had come.

I watched him as he disappeared into the crowd of sunbathers, a slight uneasiness lingering in the back of my mind. Why had his sister called him a hypocrite?

--

_**Later in the night…**_

"What is wrong with you? I come back after a month and this is what you have for me?" she demanded in Spanish, her hands on her slender hips.

"I cannot, ok?" he answered in the same language. "I have a girlfriend."

She laughed a high-pitched laugh, causing him to wince slightly. "And since when have you cared about whether or not you had a girlfriend?" she asked disbelievingly.

He flashed her an annoyed look. "Since today. Happy? Now please leave."

She examined her perfectly manicured nails as she rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. We always used to have so much fun," she said, walking towards him seductively.

"Which part of 'I cannot' do you not understand?" he asked her irritably.

"None of it," she whispered, settling herself on his lap and tracing his outline with mile-long nails.

As she leaned in to kiss him, a wave of nostalgia washed over him. This was what he had been doing for the past year. Why was he so reluctant to do it tonight?

Torn between his true, present feelings and his nostalgic ones, he just sat with her on his lap as she came in and kissed him hungrily.

And as the clock ticked on, the both of them slowly fell onto the bed together.

--

**A/N: Yeah, so I was just discovered the Stats button in my account today and I checked it out and I was, well, shocked. I mean the number of hits vs. the number of reviews…shocking. **

**Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. I did. :D**

**Review! It's always nice to have feedback!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys, thanks so much for all the reviews on the last chapter. It was the most I ever got for one chapter!**

--

I stared out of the window of Vivienne's Porsche Cayenne.

Sinking into the comfortable embrace of the plush leather seat, I watched the passing pedestrians moodily. Unlike the cheerful flurry of life outside the glass, my mood was strangely glum. I had been fine the day before at the beach, but that same night, my temper had abruptly changed for the worse. And it had stayed like that all through the next day.

I didn't even know why. It was like suddenly, all I wanted to do was become a quiet observer of life without actually taking part in it. A sudden foreboding of danger and sadness punctured my normally high spirits.

_Maybe I'm just PMS-ing. _

At the sound of laughter, I looked over at Vivienne who was driving beside me. Apparently Brad, who was sitting in the back seat with Jake, had cracked a very funny joke.

I rolled my eyes. If Brad had actually cracked a joke that was worthy of being laughed at, then I didn't really know what the world was coming to. Maybe the Big Bang all over again. Or World War III.

I sighed. I so didn't want to be here. All I wanted to do was go and curl up under the warm covers of my bed back in Carmel.

_God, Suze! Get a grip, will you? What's wrong, anyway? Nothing's wrong, everything is going perfectly. Vivienne wants to take you and Jake and Brad to the hottest new club in the area, you should be excited. What's with all the pessimism?_

Realizing that my arms had been tightly crossed over my chest, I relaxed them onto my denim mini clad lap. Quietly I continued looking outside.

As the glorious mixture of orange and red gave in to a brooding velvety navy-black in the sky, I watched the traditional Spanish street bands – the ones who wear formal suits with wide-brimmed hats and play the banjo and harmonica and stuff– pack their instruments and make to head home. Lovers, wrapped up in each other, strolled under the breezeways. An open air function was taking place somewhere near, and salsa music drifted in through the half-rolled down windows.

I was torn out of my uncharacteristic observations by Jake's voice.

"Hey Suze, why don't you tell Vivienne about that time your friend Adam thought Sister Ernestine's boobs were about to explode when she caught those two homos kissing?"

My lips quirked. Yeah, that little episode at school _was_ funny. But what actually surprised me was that Jake was actually doing something to get me out of my sour mood. He had actually noticed. He really was improving on the whole elder brother thing.

Pushing away my gloomy thoughts for the moment, I started narrating the story to Vivienne.

--

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up in front of a huge grey building. I climbed out of the SUV, not taking my eyes off the structure in front of me.

It wasn't just any old grey building. It was shaped like a jungle cave, grey boulders forming its exterior. But at the bottom, smack dab in the centre was a glass door. Sliding glass doors, we found out the next moment when the door opened automatically to let a couple of girls in. Through the glass we could see throngs of young people dancing.

Behind me, Jake whistled softly. .

Once we were inside, we secured a little table in the corner for ourselves.

"What would you guys like to drink?" Vivienne shouted over Rihanna's 'Shut Up and Drive".

We gave her our choices and she and Brad – who seemed quite besotted with her, but then again, when is Brad not besotted over a pretty girl? –left to get our orders. Jake excused himself and got up and walked to the dance floor where he was instantly devoured by a swarm of girls.

I raised my eyebrows, amused. I had never imagined Jake as the dancing type. Maybe that quote _was_ true: Life is full of surprises.

I looked around the club. It was very different from the one Jesse had taken me to on our first date. This was exactly like the general idea people had of clubs. Girls wearing slutty outfits, not an old person in sight, ear-splittingly loud rock music…

Suddenly someone touched my shoulder from behind. I jumped. "What the…?"

A tall lean guy with short spiky hair was grinning at me. "_Quisieras bailar conmigo?_"

"Umm…I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish," I said.

"Ah! You are American, yes?" he asked me, still grinning. He had a crooked front tooth, giving him a slightly rakish look. "You want to dance with me?"

"Oh," I said. God, that grin was creeping me out. "I—I don't really feel like dancing," I told him and turned to move away. Where the hell was Jake?

But the guy was very insistent. "We will have fun," he insisted, his grip on my arm growing tighter and tighter by the second.

Suddenly, my roving eyes were caught by a mane of perfectly waved dark hair. It wasn't very significant amidst the other mostly dark heads in the crowd. But _I_ would be able to point it out anywhere in the world. Because that particular wavy mop of hair meant only one thing to me.

With a sudden twist which freed me from that psycho's grip, I began to make my way towards that dark head as fast as I could in the jumping mob of people.

After what seemed like hours, I finally arrived in a little clearing at the side of the club where tables were lining the wall. The owner of that dark head was not facing me but he wasn't also completely with his back towards me. I could see his profile – those defined cheekbones, the slightly large nose…

Smiling, I began walk towards him, intending to surprise him. Someone else, however, beat me to it. This someone else being a girl who looked slightly older than me. She had a body made for the runway, naturally chocolate skin, and perfectly styled raven hair. But what with the meagre amount of clothes she had on and a seductive look on her face, she had an aura that screamed 'SLUT'.

And all this slutty-ness was directed towards none other than the handsome dark-headed guy who I had come after. Her long arms snaked around his neck and she leaned in like she expected him to kiss her.

Ha! _He_ kiss _her_? Never.

Narrowing my eyes, I made to go and get her dirty paws off him. I had not taken two steps, however, when something happened which made the world around me spin.

He leaned in the rest of the way and kissed her on the lips.

I felt bile rise up my throat. My clenched palms started to sweat profusely. And as a river of tears gathered beneath my eyelid, I could only say one word.

"Jesse."

I don't know how he heard it over all the noise the music was making. But he ripped his mouth away from her's and looked over at me. And he paled. Considerably. And those striking dark eyes widened.

But before Jesse could say anything, I pivoted on the spot and ran towards the door, pushing indignant people roughly aside.

Once I was out in the open, I took a deep breathe of jasmine scented air.

_Dammit! I should have listened to Vivienne at the beginning! And now I have to pay the price for being too over-smart. _

I brought my hands to my mouth to keep myself from sobbing. Then –

"Susannah!"

I made to run but strong fingers curled around my arm. I shivered. And it had nothing to do with the evening breeze that was blowing.

Sobbing, I struggled to break free of his powerful grip but I couldn't. My arm seemed so thin and weak inside his long, tendony fingers.

Finally, I cried, "God, Jesse! What the hell is wrong with you?"

He looked at me steadily thought I could see his usual confidence was missing from his eyes. "I need you to listen to me," he said simply in a grave voice.

I laughed humourlessly. "Yeah right. After what I saw in there, I don't think there's much for me to listen to."

He gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down nervously. "Querida—"

"Don't call me that," I said quietly. "Whatever it means, I don't care. Just, I'm not your querida anymore."

He closed his eyes, like this was paining him a lot. Yeah, right. Like I was enjoying it.

"Susannah," he started. "Please let me explain. I know what I did was wrong but please don't turn a cold shoulder on me," he pleaded.

It was kind of frightening, actually. Seeing Jesse like this. All begging and stuff.

I silently stared at the lamppost in front of the club.

Slowly he started. "What I did with Maria was a mistake—"

"You know what Jesse? You'd better try and find some new excuses. Because that 'mistake' excuse is what everyone says and I am not about to believe it," I nearly shouted.

It was like a trigger to the gun holding my anger had been pushed. And each word that I said hit Jesse like a bullet.

"Fine, you made a mistake with Maria," I continued, water still pouring out of my eyes and my voice raw from shouting. "But how am I to know you haven't gone behind my back and done things with her before, huh? You think I can actually TRUST you?"

Something in his smoldering eyes flickered. It was an emotion like…guilt.

Oh.

My.

God.

This time, I couldn't shout anymore. It was all I could do to stop my knees from buckling and falling onto the pavement.

His face a watery blur above me, I half-whispered, "Je…Jesse? Y—you…?"

He seemed to get my meaning. He set his jaw and seemed to come to an internal decision.

"Susannah," he started, his soft voice flowing over me. "I will tell you the truth. Maria and I both started college last year. I—I had a reputation for playing around with girls. I never had trouble attracting women and, to my deep regret now, I took advantage of it."

He squeezed his eyes shut, getting himself together. I silently waited for him to continue, my insides knotted together tightly.

"Because of doing that, I got this kind of phobia. Of commitment. I couldn't commit myself to one relationship. And I normally wouldn't mind doing it too. Cheating on my girlfriends. It never hurt me or made me feel guilty."

As a fresh bunch of tears gathered in my eyes, Jesse continued in a shameful voice, "Maria was most of the time the one with whom I cheated behind my girlfriends' backs. For a year, everything went on in this way. Then, a month back, Maria left for Paris. Two weeks after she left, I met you in that marketplace. At first, I thought I would make you one of those temporary girlfriends of mine. But…Susannah, you enchanted me like no other girl had ever done before. Like I said yesterday at the beach, you were _real_. You enjoyed life to its fullest and yet you never did anything improper. You were knowledgeable yet innocent."

Now Jesse's voice changed. It was full of wonder. "You were the first girl I ever saw 'craving for sugar'. And…_querida_…," his voice trailed off as he looked at me straight in the eyes.

I narrowed my eyes at him for calling me that again.

"I have never ever called any girl that before. But when I speak with you, it just slips off my tongue like I've been doing it my whole life," he said quietly, still gazing at me intensely.

Jesse gulped again and, I was shocked to see, his eyes unusually bright. "Please Susannah, believe me."

I took a deep cleansing breath. "Then what about the kiss just now? And…what you did with her behind MY back? If you were so enchanted with me, why go and do those, huh?"

"Susannah, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I—After doing it for so long, I couldn't change in one day. And…you don't know Maria. I swear I tried to resist but…"

As he looked at me with pleading eyes, I gathered up my courage to say something that broke my heart into splinters.

"Jesse, it's over."

--

**A/N: Uh-oh…**

**I'm guessing I'll be attacked with someone's sleeping bag and remote now, **_**cough Meg cough**_

**Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Pathetic.

It was the only word that could describe my state after my great break-up with Jesse.

Yeah, you read that right. Great. Because just the morning after that, Vivienne had come rushing into David's and my hotel room, clutching a Spanish magazine in her hand.

And guess what I saw in it.

Me. Well, and Jesse too but he didn't look as pathetic as I did. My eyes were all puffy like a bee had stung both of them, my nose was all red and there were tearstains running down my cheeks and making them look all sticky and pale.

_Way to go, Suze. Your first – and most probably only – celebrity moment and you appear with a clown nose. Fantastic. _

Right, so…where was I? Oh yeah. Pathetic.

Well the fact that for my two post-Jesse weeks, I had been living off chocolate, and chocolate only, reinforced my above statement. I was in depression. Over a _guy_. Now all I wanted to do was spend the whole day in bed wearing my PJs and reading Reader's Digest. And _not_ the 'Laughter is the Best Medicine' part. All the sight-seeing we did now was wasted on me. Because the truth was – Spain had lost its spark without Jesse.

It seemed as if there was suddenly this void in my life, like I was forgetting to do something important. I felt like a person who has worn glasses their whole life but suddenly looses it. Everything else was exactly the same as before, but for that particular person, the whole world had mutated.

So here I was, two weeks later, slouched against the headboard of my hotel bed. We had just come in from a local food festival.

I was thinking about Mom and Andy's change of plan about which they had informed the four of us a few minutes ago. My mom had decided it was about time we returned home. Even though she was nowhere near giving birth, she thought that it would be better for both the baby and herself if she stayed at home. Fortunately, Andy had been able to change our ticket dates despite the summer rush, so we were leaving in five days.

Fingering a loose thread in my capris, I gazed off into space. I sighed. Maybe this going back early decision would be best for me. The sooner I went back to my normal life, the easier it would be for me to forget about Jesse.

I was broken from my musings by the shrill ring of the phone. Pursing my lips irritably, I picked up the handset and said "Hello?"

"Hello is this room number five hundred eleven?" said the clipped Spanish tone of the receptionist.

"Uh, yeah," I answered.

"May I speak to a Susannah Simon?" she asked, though it didn't really sound like she was asking my permission. More like demanding it.

Confusedly, I answered, "I'm Susannah Simon."

"Please come down to the lobby at once. Someone is waiting for you here."

And before I could utter another word, I heard the click of the line being cut on the other end.

_God, these people should really learn something about customer relationship. _

Shaking my head, I walked into the bathroom and quickly gave myself the once-over in front of the mirror. _It'll do_.

At the door, I turned back. "Hey, David?" I called.

"Yeah," mumbled the shock of red hair sticking out from under the blanket.

"I'm going down for a bit, ok? I'll be right back."

"Mmm," he replied.

I slowly trudged down the carpeted corridor to the elevator. Who could possibly want to meet me? Vivienne and…well, nobody else struck me.

When I arrived at the lobby, I walked up to the front desk and said, "Uh, there was somebody waiting for me? Susannah Simon?"

With barely a glance at me, she nodded her head towards the sofas beside the door then went back to typing on her computer.

Rolling my eyes, I looked towards the person in question. And my jaw slackened.

It was Jesse. Well, I certainly hadn't thought of _him._

I turned back to head for the elevators but his voice stopped me.

"Susannah!" The sound of my name elicited by his deep voice echoed throughout the huge marble lobby.

People were casting looks at the both of us. The receptionist was now looking curiously at the scene in front of her, her eyes darting from Jesse to me.

Slowly, I turned back and walked towards him. I guess he too noticed the looks we were being given because as soon as I was within arm length of him, he grasped my arm gently and lead the both of us outside. We crossed the road in silence and soon came onto the quieter sidewalk on the other side. He took us to the side of the building which stood there, so that we wouldn't be seen and backed me up against the wall.

And now I was able to get a good look at him. He was wearing a baseball cap which was tilted low over his face, no doubt so that nobody recognized him. And his face…oh god. It seemed as if he had not shaved since the last time we met at that club. His eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelt of alcohol.

"Jesse," I whispered, looking up at him.

"Susannah," he breathed back.

I shivered. The masculinity in his voice as he whispered my name gave a weird feeling somewhere in my stomach. It was a feeling which only being with Jesse gave me. It made me want to just throw myself into his strong arms and give away all my fears to him.

"Susannah," he repeated. "I needed to see you. Querida…please come back to me."

He was making this so hard for me.

"Jesse," I whispered, still pinned against the concrete walls by his muscular arms. "Please don't make this hard for me. I—we cannot be together. I…" I trailed off, not finding the correct words to say.

There was this savage fire in his eyes which made him look like he wanted to ravish me there and then. And, honestly? I would have let him. God, I'm so cheap.

And then, as if on cue, he leaned down and kissed me. That kiss held everything that we were both feeling. Desire, passion, love, regret, and sadness. It was rough but at the same time gentle. I wound my arms around his neck and he deepened the kiss, pressing me into his hard chest.

Then, suddenly my brain switched on again. Using all my strength, I pushed him away.

"What the hell…? Jesse, you can't do that! We don't—"

"What?" he cut me fiercely. "We don't what? Have any feelings for each other?"

I was at a loss at what to say. Because, deep inside, I knew I still had feelings for him. A whole truckload of them actually. That was why I was so upset at what happened between him and that ice bitch, Maria.

But feelings or not, I couldn't stay with someone who had cheated on me.

Swallowing, I replied, "Yeah. Yeah. You got that right. Because we don't have anything between us. Not when your actions have shown so obviously that you don't give a damn about my feelings."

He blinked, all his fierceness evaporated. Taking advantage of his silence, I turned to head back to the hotel before my tears would spill in front of him. I _hate_ crying in front of people.

I had not gone even one step when he called out quietly, "Susannah."

I stopped, but didn't turn back to face him. There was just always something about Jesse's voice which would never make me ignore it like I would any other voice.

"Susannah," he continued. "If you don't come back to me, at least…at least forgive me. Don't remain angry with me. Please." His voice was steady and firm but the inner ear in me could make out the torrent of emotions raging through him.

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't even sure whether I was ready to forgive him or not. Or whether I was angry with him or not. All I knew was that this was the last time I would see him. I would leave in five days and before or after that, I would never make any attempt to find him again.

Tears blurring my vision, I, stupid fool that I am, quickly started walking back to the hotel. I was in the middle of crossing the road when it happened.

Every terrifying event crammed into one tiny fraction of a millisecond.

"SUSANNAH!"

The uncharacteristic fear and urgency in Jesse's voice chilled me to the bone. I was about to turn around when a pair of huge hands pushed me forward. I stumbled roughly onto the pavement, the hot concrete burning my hands.

My hair whipping my face sharply, I turned around just in time to see a huge delivery truck knock Jesse down.

--


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Holy Mackerel. Just two more chapters to go and then we're done. **

**Time travels fast, doesn't it? :)**

**Oh, and I hope all you guys figured out the reason for the story title now. **_**lilmizz3vil**_** did. Congratulations. :)**

--

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The clock, with Mickey Mouse in the middle, continued on in the same pattern.

It must have been boring work for old Mickey, swinging his arms fractionally every second. Just standing there, grinning cheesily, with not a clue as to how many people were staring at him, waiting with bated breath for the blood red light under him to turn off.

I was one of those people. I was perched on the edge of the cold hard plastic seat outside the operation theatre, staring at the clock. And to me, Mickey seemed to be moving way too slowly.

It had been an hour since I had witnessed Jesse being run over by that truck. Now, as I was sitting in the immaculate hospital, I couldn't even remember how that hour had passed by. I could vaguely make out Jesse's bloody head on my lap, me clutching his equally bloody hand desperately, the red and blue flashing of the ambulance, my parents making urgent calls…all of which had been wasted on me.

Now, the only thing that mattered in the world to me was Jesse's heartbeat. That tiny steady thrumming in his chest which normally nobody would notice. But today, it was the most important thing in the whole world for me.

Funny, how these small things can change the whole course of people's lives.

"Susie?"

I looked up at the sound of my mom's soft voice. The sound was very comforting to me. She sat down next to me and pulled me into her arms. I buried my face in her lime blossom-smelling hair and closed my eyes.

A slow tear escaped out of my squeezed eyes. Soon another followed. Then another. And another. Soon I was weeping hysterically into my mom's hair.

It was like, suddenly, the whole weight of the situation dropped onto my head. Jesse's life was on the line here and it was all because of me. Stupid, idiotic me. Me, who had rejected him so harshly. Me who didn't deserve his love.

"It's alright, Susie. He's going to be OK. I'm sure he'll be alright," my mom whispered into my ears, patting my back consolingly.

My face contorted, I pulled back and looked into her eyes, green just like mine. "Mom, what if…what if he…he doesn't…?" I couldn't finish the sentence. I just couldn't utter the fact that Jesse might die any moment.

It just seemed so impossible that Jesse could die any moment now. Jesse, who was always so confident and full of life. Jesse, who was so comforting to hold and who would take my breath away whenever he kissed me.

Jesse, who loved me so much that he got himself run over by a truck to save me.

I saw something like uncertainty flicker in my mom's eyes. But she soon covered it with her usual lovely smile which had always been a source of comfort and envy for me since I had been three- years-old.

"Don't worry. He'll be alright, I'm sure Susie," she said, stroking my hair.

It was weird how that nickname which I hated so much was suddenly so comforting to me. Susie. I had absolutely hated it especially when my mom used to call me that in front of others. Now though, it proved to me that at least some things were still normal. That not everyone I loved was being taken away from me. I still had my mom with me.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of people rushing in. Looking up from my mom's shoulder, I saw a man and woman and five girls half-run half-walk in with looks of intense worry etched on their faces.

I recognized one of them. Josefina. So this was Jesse's family.

They spoke urgently in Spanish with the nurse at the desk, who answered back in the same language and then nodded towards where mom and I were sitting. I saw Josefina's eyes widen.

"Suze!?" she cried, rushing towards me. "What happened? Where's Jesse? I heard he…a truck?"

I gulped. "Jesse got hit with a truck. He's in the operating room now," I answered blandly. I really couldn't see what else there was to add.

Josefina looked back at her family and they started speaking in Spanish. I zoned out. Because hearing them speak the language had reminded me of something else.

Before he had passed out, Jesse had whispered two words to me in his mother tongue.

"Te Amo."

That was it. Then he had fallen into a faint. In the urgency of the moment, I hadn't taken much notice of his words. I had been too busy trying to get someone to call an ambulance.

Now, though, as I was sitting on that hard orange plastic bench, waiting for the doctor to walk out of the operation theatre, I would have given anything to know what they meant. If they were to be his last words, then…

"Josefina?" I croaked.

She turned her worried eyes on me. "Yes?"

"What does…_te amo_ mean?" I asked hesitantly.

She looked at me strangely. "It means 'I love you'," she answered. "Why?"

But I didn't hear her question. Because a massive torrent of water had started pouring out of my eyes. I hung my head and brought my hands to my face, not bothering to control my volume.

He loved me. Even as he lay bleeding to death, he had reached out to prove his love to me.

My mom tightened her grip around my shoulders and brought my head down onto her shoulders. Stroking my hair, she whispered words of comfort to me. None of which actually worked.

When my body had totally run out of water for more tears, I just gazed numbly at Jesse's family from my mom's shoulder.

They had money, you could tell. Mr. de Silva was in an Armani suit and polished black loafers. It looked like he had just come rushing out in the middle of a business meeting. Jesse's mom was clad in a silk sundress and expensive looking heels. As she brought her hands to cover her crying face, the diamond-studded Swiss-made watch on her wrist sparkled.

_But_, I thought, _what's the use of all this money now? When their only son, who they have brought up and loved for twenty years, is on the edge of life and death?_

Time went on and the Mickey Mouse grinned on.

David brought me a Diet Coke and gave me a sad half-smile. Jake came and sat next to me, tapping his foot on the floor. Andy just stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a grim look on his face.

Then, suddenly, one of Jesse's sisters cried out in Spanish, breaking all of us from our trances. She excitedly pointed at the doors of the operation theatre. Or, to be more precise, right above them.

The red light had turned off.

This was it. The moment of truth. The tossing of the coin. Heads, he lives. Tail, he…

The double doors opened and a very tired doctor walked out with a nurse. He spoke to her quietly and she nodded and walked away.

All of us, Jesse's family and mine, rushed towards the doctor.

"How is he, doctor? How is my son?" asked Jesse's mom expectantly. Even at a time like this, she didn't lose her manners. She spoke in English for our sake.

The doctor sighed. "He…he lived."

Jesse's family cried out in joy. His sisters and mom started crying tears of happiness. But I just continued looking at the doctor grimly. He had not finished, I knew.

"But," the doctor continued. "He has suffered from a massive amount of injury. It was a miracle he survived."

Josefina's smile faltered. "But they will be cured…right?"

The doctor glanced at the floor then back at her. "Not all of them. Yes, many of the injuries, like the broken ribs and arms and scars can be healed. But, I'm afraid his right leg was damaged beyond hundred percent curing. Young Mr. de Silva may have to limp for the rest of his life. The amount of limping may be reduced through exercise but a slight limp, at least, will always remain."

We gaped at him.

My brain was whirring with emotions. His right leg would never be the same again. He'd have to limp for the rest of his life.

A tear seeped out of my eyelid. Jesse, who had loved dancing salsa so much, may never be able to dance again. And it was all because of me.

If there was ever a moment in my whole life in which I hated myself more anything or anyone on the whole wide world, it was now. I wanted to just curl up and _die._

_And when Jesse wakes up and finds out, he'll hate me too. More than I even hate myself. He'll never want to face the girl who destroyed his life._

This sudden realization pierced me like broken glass. I'd have to leave. I'd never be able to talk to him again. To kiss him again.

'_Ha_', I thought wryly. '_A few hours ago, you were more than willing to never talk to him again. And now that he won't want to, now you want to talk to him. You got what you deserve__,__ Simon._'

"Can we see him?" Jesse's eldest little sister, Marta, was asking the doctor.

"Yes, but only three people at a time. He is in a very delicate state now. You will need to wear protective clothes. And please don't disturb him. He has not regained consciousness yet. We may call it a slight coma. But, don't worry, he'll wake up in time," said the doctor, and then walked away.

I went back to sit on the plastic bench as Jesse's family took turns to go and see him. Mrs. de Silva had kindly offered me to go in and see him first.

"You see him first. If it wasn't for you, my Jesse may have been dead now," she said tearfully, smiling at me gratefully.

_If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have been hit by a truck in the first place. _

Guilt-ridden, I declined her offer and told her I would like to see him alone at the end.

Soon they had all finished visiting him and Jesse's mom smiled at me sadly and nodded towards his hospital room. I smiled back at her and went to put on the coat and mask and cap before entering his room.

Once I was inside the room, alone with his unconscious form, all my tears came back to me. I walked over to stand by his side. He had all these wires sticking out from him and almost his whole body was bandaged.

I just stood gazing at his handsome, noble face and crying silently for some time. Then, with a gloved hand, I reached out and stroked his pale cheek softly. And I answered back to him in _my _mother tongue.

"I love you too, Jesse."

Then, I turned around and left, leaving Jesse, the hospital and Spain behind me.

--


	10. Chapter 10

_**Six months later…**_

"No, CeeCee, I'm not going," I repeated for the thousandth time that day.

"But, Suze, we won't get a chance like this again! C'mon, it'll be fun!" argued CeeCee beside me.

"Excuse me, but I think we're still in our junior year. We still have senior year winter formal left, you know," I rationalized, pulling my Mom's old Honda Civic to a stand still at the red light.

CeeCee snorted. "Yeah, right. Like you're going to go to _that_ one."

I silently stared at the rear end of the maroon Volvo in front of us. Then as the silence grew, I sighed. Turning to face her, I said, "Look, I'm sorry, OK? I just…well I have to help Mom look after the baby. You know she has a hard time controlling Pete…"

As my voice trailed off, CeeCee dryly said, "You're not a very good liar, Suze. Your mom can handle your brother just fine without your help."

Knowing I was caught, but not ready to admit it, I looked out the window obstinately. I heard CeeCee sigh.

"Really, Suze," she started wearily. "I don't know what's gotten into you. Ever since you came back from your vacation in Spain, you've been a completely different person. You've been acting like some kind of recluse or something. What happened in Spain?"

When I didn't answer back, she continued. "Really, I mean you were the one who got me all excited about the winter formal and stuff all the way back during spring break when we saw that new dress shop in the mall. And now, look at you. C'mon, Suze, I'll say this for the last time. Let's go buy a dress from that shop for the winter formal. I'm telling you, we'll have fun."

I tore my eyes from the loved up couple on the sidewalk I had been intently watching and started the car as the red light switched to green. We drove in silence for some time through the quaint, tourist-filled streets of downtown Carmel.

After about ten minutes, when we were clear of all the bustle and were smoothly moving along the shady, pine-scented road near my neighbourhood, I broke the silence.

"Fine, I'll go. But I don't have a date and I am certainly NOT tagging along as a third wheel behind you and Adam," I said, tapping the steering wheel with my finger for emphasis.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Suze. I've got all that cleared up," said CeeCee nonchalantly. Too nonchalantly. Inside, I knew, she was doing a victory dance.

I warily glanced at her. "Oh yeah? Who're you gonna set me up with?" I asked.

Her bright, overly innocent smile suddenly looked evil to me. Very evil.

"You'll see," she said, flicking her white-blond hair over her shoulder and reclining back on the worn out seat.

--

A week later, I was sitting in front of my dressing table mirror, poking at my elegantly pulled up, wavy hair. I had gotten over the whole straightening phase. I was going to go _au natural_ from now on.

Somebody had taught me to love the natural me.

The doorbell rang and I heard David shout, "I'll get it!"

I sighed and slowly stood up to get my matching white clutch from the bed. I really didn't want to go to the winter formal. Not with Paul Slater, the new guy from Seattle, anyway.

I trudged down the stairs at a pace which would have shamed a tortoise, and finally arrived downstairs in the living room. Andy was making polite small talk with Paul while Mom was feeding my little brother, Peter, upstairs.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.

Mom had slightly prematurely given birth to a baby boy about twenty days ago and named him Peter after my dad. Another boy in the family. Another toilet seat to put down.

Why me, God?

But boy or not, little Peter – or Pete, as I lovingly called him - already had his pudgy little fingers wrapped around my heart. All of our hearts, actually. Well, I didn't know about Brad, but the rest of us surely. Even Jake took some time off from his college-sleep-pizza routine to fuss over him.

Anyway, so as I stepped down from the last stair, my presence was finally acknowledged. Andy smiled broadly and said, "You look absolutely radiant, Suze. Very lovely."

I turned red. _Radiant?_ Which man ever called his stepdaughter _radiant_ in front of her prom – OK, winter formal – date?

Alright, no need to roll your eyes. I know already. Andy. But that was him. Goofy, crazy, lovable Andy.

Offering him a small smile, I turned to Paul. The guy was hot, no doubt. The fluorescent light was picking out the golden strands in his dark chocolate hair and the white collar of his shirt underneath the tuxedo looked amazing against his tan throat. Of course the fact that he was about six feet tall with a broad expanse of shoulder didn't hurt either.

The smirk which was plastered across his face wasn't all that good-looking, though. Well, OK, it was. But in the supermodel-on-magazine-cover way. Not the admiring-and-comforting-date-in-her-embarrassing-situation way.

Finally, he opened his mouth and said, "Hey Suze. Mr. Ackerman was just telling me about the new hot tub in your backyard. This is for you, by the way." He stepped forward and handed me a single red rose.

'_Mr. Ackerman was just telling me about the new hot tub in your backyard._ _This is for you, by the way.'_

That was it. No secret smile or delicate orchid corsage. Just a smirk and a rose. A thorny rose, mind you.

_Keep on dreaming, Simon. Maybe you'll get your dream date someday. _

Yeah, if my dream guy ever came along. Of which's chance was near zero. Since he was a whole continent and an ocean away.

"Thanks," I murmured, accepting the rose. "So…um…shall we go?"

He nodded briefly and shaking Andy's hands once, he turned to the shoe rack by the door with me behind him.

Andy and Mom had made this no-shoe policy since Pete was born. It was for better hygiene, apparently, that we don't wear our shoes in the house.

Once we were out in the fresh air, Paul led me to his sleek, silver BMW silently. It was totally like one of those celebrity cars, ones normal girls like me could only dream of riding shotgun beside their boyfriends.

Nothing like a sports bike, though.

The drive to the Mission was fairly quiet.

One of the reasons for our silence, I guess, was my aloof mood. Paul tried to make small talk at first but soon gave up after my curt answers. I couldn't blame him, really. It was me. But I myself didn't know why I was behaving so detached. I mean, sure I had been acting detached since…summer vacations, but not like this.

The thing was, I had a very weird feeling growing in the pits of my stomach. I kind of felt like a Silly Putty being squished and stretched and twisted in a million directions at the same time. There was a strange taste residing in the back of my throat and, I saw to my horror, goosebumps were spurting up all over my bare arms.

Trying to hide my excitement – or was it fear? – from Paul, I turned to the window and stared at the stretches of beach and occasional housing blocks flash by.

The whole scene stirred the embers of a memory in the back of my subconscious mind. Me watching the world flash by in a car, trying to tame a foreign feeling that I couldn't exactly place. The memory seemed so distant yet just out of my reach.

After half an hour, I stepped out from the chilling, air-conditioned interior of Paul's car in our school's parking lot. The cool, salty breeze that hit my face relaxed my tense form a bit.

A bit.

The gym, where the dance was being held, was softly lit by hundreds of little twinkling fairy lights. Rainbow colored tinsel created a wreath around the whole room.

The first hour of the evening flew by normally. Just like any sixteen-year-old girl's high school dance should go. Recently hooked up best friends to catch up with, hot date to dance with, spiked punch to pretend to sip and then secretly pour into the flower pot when nobody is looking…

But I couldn't shake off the feeling in me, no matter what.

I was standing by the refreshments table while Paul was discussing something important with one of his tennis team mates, when I caught snitches of a conversation Kelly Prescott and her clone, Debbie Mancuso, who were standing right in front of me, were having.

"...Spanish-looking guy?" asked Kelly.

Debbie shook her head confusedly. "Who? You know him?"

I could just imagine Kelly rolling her big baby blues. "Of course not. But, ohmigod, he was, like, so _hot."_

"Oh? Even hotter than that new Paul guy?" asked Debbie excitedly.

Kelly's profile opened her mouth than closed it again, trying to decide which guy was actually hotter. "Well," she started slowly. "They both are, like, really _really_ hot. The new guy _may _be hotter than Paul…but I noticed he sorta…well, he _limps_…"

The rest of their conversation I tuned out. Because one word Kelly had uttered had sent my heart racing faster than a hummingbird's wings.

_Limps. _

My breathing suddenly very difficult, I turned around searching for…nothing in particular, really. I was just looking for anything, _anything _that would stop my heart from beating so hard that my chest hurt.

I blindly weaved in and out through the various tables and people, heading for the bathroom. In my haste, however, I crashed into someone.

My cheeks flushing embarrassedly and silently thanking the gods that none of us had been carrying a drink, I looked up muttering apologies. But the face that looked back at me made my heart start doing speedy push-ups again. In fact, I was sure that everyone could see it protruding out of my chest at every beat just like in the cartoons.

His handsome, olive face was staring at me with that same mixture of astonishment, happiness, and disbelieve that I was sure my own face was.

Only, mine had something else added in there. Guilt.

Gazing up at him, I felt that time had stopped and everything and everyone around us had frozen. The only things moving were the freight trains of emotions colliding into the two of us, resounding silent echoes.

And then, everything began moving again and his perfectly carved lips twitched up in an amused but understanding smile, tinted with a magnitude of joy that only I could see.

And as the first soft piano keys of The Fray's '_How To Save a Life' _started playing, Jesse wrapped me in his sublime embrace and breathed into my ear, "I missed you, _querida._"


	11. Epilogue

**A/N: Aw, man. It's actually finished. Done. Humph. **

**Anyway, a HUMUNGOUS thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I really appreciate you guys taking your time to ****read**** my story. Really. **

**Right, so I present you with ze last chapter in this story. Epilogue, actually. Are we even allowed to have an epilogue without a prologue? I'll just assume that we are. :)**

**Now read, review, and ENJOY. **

**Ciao. ****:)**

--

I climbed up the stairs slowly, the hollow wooden _thump_ resounding each time I took a step. Sniffling a little, I kept my eyes downcast and used my left hand which was on the railing to haul myself up at each stair.

"Suze!"

I stopped at the sound of my name and turned around on the same stair I was on. "What?" I shouted back down.

"Come help me unpack the groceries," my mom shouted up. "Be down quick!"

Sighing angrily, I stomped down and walked up to the kitchen counter where Mom was opening up the packages. She turned at the sound of my steps and nodded towards the floor where she had dropped a few shopping bags.

Pursing my lips, I knelt down on the floor and started unpacking, still sniffling a little.

After a moment, my mom said, "Oh, Suze." I looked up at her through narrowed eyes. "Please don't tell me you're sulking because Jesse just left," she said, rolling her eyes and turning back to the bags.

Narrowing my eyes even more – it's a good thing I have big eyes –, I replied coldly, "It's not because of Jesse."

She snorted. I turned to her, my mouth hanging open disbelievingly. Had my _mother _just _snorted_ at the fact that I was sniffling? Some mother she was.

I voiced that last thought to her. She snorted again, louder. I huffed and went back to unpacking, muttering under my breath.

She wouldn't have _dared_ snort like that had Andy been around.

When I wouldn't talk any longer, my mom said, "Come on, Susie. You're always like that when he leaves. He'll come back soon. He does have those Frequent Flyer advantages."

Ha, tell me about it. Frequent Flyer advantages. The luxuries of money.

To my mother I replied, "God, Mom. It's not about Jesse, OK?"

"And, he keeps on emailing you," she went on, ignoring my statement. "Don't tell me he doesn't, because I know he does. He'll be back in two months for the summer, anyway."

Forgetting what I had been trying to keep secret from my mom, I muttered slightly anxiously, "Two months is a long time. Some other girl is _sure_ to get her hands on him by then."

Mom chuckled. "So it _is_ about Jesse, isn't it?"

I turned red. "So what if it is?" I shot. "I have the right to be a little sad."

"Sure. A little," Mom said, still working on the shopping bags. I could just imagine her smug smile.

Rolling my eyes in a scary resemblance of Kelly Prescott, I continued ripping bags open and emptying them. The crispy sound of crunching paper and polythene took over the kitchen for a while.

"He won't date any other girl, Susie," Mom said when we were almost done.

I couldn't help it. I gave in. It felt good to have someone reassuring me.

Chewing nervously at my lower lip, I looked up at Mom from my kneeling position and said, "You think so?" Then, in answer to her pointed look, "I mean, I know he won't but…well, those Spanish girls _are_ pretty," I finished lamely.

I wasn't being an insecure girlfriend. I really wasn't. I was hundred percent sure that Jesse wouldn't do anything…wrong. It was just that, having him so far for so long was something that didn't exactly appeal to me. And, trust me, I've read up every single magazine article and book on long distance relationships.

My findings weren't all that reassuring, though. And I was feeling it too. Long distance relationships suck big time. I mean, where were all those Friday date nights?

But whatever it was, Jesse and I were making it work. Yeah, it wasn't exactly fun meeting him at monthly intervals when he got holidays from college, but life's like that. You can't have the cake, the icing, _and_ the cherry, can you?

And, believe it or not, we were still totally, completely in love. Even after a year of this long distance dating. In fact, meeting after these long intervals actually made us make the most of every second we were together. Not that, we won't if he stayed near me. Make the most of it, I mean.

Gina, CeeCee and Adam had doubts about this relationship, though. So did Vivienne, with whom I had kept in touch for all this time. I listened with one ear to their gobbledygook and shot it out from the other. Because, I knew, I _just_ knew that it would last. One measly continent and ocean couldn't separate us. And it was only for some time. Till Jesse finished college. Then…well, we decided to get to that later.

So, just trying to vent my annoyance at having him go and leaving me to yet another long wait, every time we came back home after seeing him off at the airport I would sulk for some time. Until I received his call telling that he had arrived safely in Spain.

Of course, the tears would come along uninvited.

Before Mom could answer, we heard the screen door leading to the deck at the back opening. Pete's adorable, short laughs and Andy's animated voice drifted into the room.

"There, Pete. Say hi to Mom and Suze," said Andy, waving Pete's little dimpled hand.

"Mama," pronounced Pete, his childish speech emphasizing the M's. His clothes were slightly grass-stained, his blond hair dishevelled and his wide blue eyes bounced with energy. He was an exact photocopy of Jake when he had been an infant. In fact, when I was looking through the Ackerman's old photo albums, the likeness between the two of them had been kind of freaky.

Mom laughed and took Pete from Andy. "Play time's over for you, young man. Now it's time to eat," she said, carrying him out to the living room.

I felt a twinge of jealousy as I saw her preoccupied in making him comfortable. It had been a year since he had been born but I still couldn't get used to sharing my mom with someone else. Someone else whose _real_ mother she was.

Sighing, I gathered all the stray shopping bags and piled them up at one end of the kitchen. Then I went up to my room and flopped down on my bed. Staring up at the canopy of the bed, I conjured up the memory of Jesse at the airport early this morning.

"_Susannah," Jesse whispered, holding my shoulder gently and taking me aside. Mom, Andy and David – yes, my whole family had come to see him off. He _had_ saved my life after all – politely pretended to get busy with Pete. Jake and Brad, however, continued glancing at us from time to time – Jake, to see if Jesse was doing anything wrong with me and Brad, to see if he could find any potential blackmail material. _

_My eyes watering up as always, I looked up Jesse. "Yeah, you should get going. Your flight's in half an hour and you have to go through immigrations and they can be total assholes at times so you really gotta have some time on your hand and…" I trailed off sheepishly. _

_Jesse giving me his typical mega-watt grin. Amusedly, he raised his eyebrows and inquired, "Yes?"_

_I scowled. Eye check: water free. _

"_Shut up. You know I tend to—"_

"—_babble when you are nervous, yes, I know," grinned Jesse. _

_Pursing my lips irritably, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared pointedly at the old Japanese couple chatting on the bench. _

_Laughing softly, Jesse said, "Come on, Susannah. I'm leaving in a few minutes and you're going to give me the silent treatment?"_

_God, his voice was so damn tantalizing. Still scowling, I looked at him and said, "You're lucky I love you or else you wouldn't have those white teeth to grin at people with now."_

_Yeah, we'd gotten past the L-word avoiding period. Because, honestly, it was so clear that we loved each other that it would be hopelessly idiotic to deny it. So, as Jesse said, why not be up front about the fact?_

_That's what I loved so much about him. He was never one for pretentiousness and unnecessary drama. OK, except for the whole cheating thing last summer. _

_Jesse chortled. "Yes, I _am_ lucky to have your love," he said softly and lowered his lips to mine. _

_Mmmm. It was a slow, sensual kiss, like we were memorizing the feeling of each other to store till the next time we met. No hands roaming, just my arms wrapped around his neck and his muscled arms securely circled around my waist. I sighed peacefully into his mouth as one of his hands moved to my hair. A sense of completeness settled over me. At that moment, I couldn't have loved life more. _

_Pulling apart, we gazed at each other for a few seconds then he took me by the elbow again and led us back to where my family was waiting. _

_After all the hand shaking and hugging had finished, Jesse slung his huge backpack over one shoulder. He nodded at everyone and then lingered his gaze at me. Walking over to me, he planted a kiss on my forehead and whispered, "Te amo, querida."_

_Smiling back, I whispered, "I love you too, Jesse."_

_He raised his eyebrows. _

"_I'm not _totally_ deficient in Spanish, you know," I said, rolling my eyes. _

_He laughed. "I'll remember that, querida."_

_With that, he turned around and left, leaving me to yet another boring stretch of schoolwork and dateless nights. _

"Suze!"

I jerked out of my short doze. "What?" I shouted down.

"Jesse's called. He's arrived safely in Spain."

_**To be continued…**_


End file.
